Editorials|1 May 1966

Ex Foopsia, Nodoc, and Antibiotics

Abstract

A recent episode in Charles Schulz' comic strip Peanuts echoed one plaint of many a physician. Sally defends herself against erudite badgering by her brother with a parody, "oopsy doopsy ex foopsia" (Figure 1). Isn't she much like the physician who scans a journal and grumbles, "Why don't they give me something I can understand?"

An editor might feel like Charlie Brown confronting Sally when he publishes a paper such as this issue's "Molecular Mechanisms of Antibiotic Activity" by Carter and McCarty (p. 1087). Here is a detailed survey of how clinical and experimental antibiotics are thought to exert their